Remember, Remember the Fifth of November

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
Through pop culture the reason for this rhyme of treason
Has long since been forgot…

Next week our social streams will be flooded with people using the opening lines from a movie they once saw as encouragement for the growing dissent among the masses for our government and its coddled institutions. They won’t care that the movie took it from a graphic novel which was loosely inspired by true historical events, and that they are quoting a children’s rhyme used to dissuade treason. These twitter-meme-inspired throngs will use it to make misguided and half-assed efforts to spread the message that government is bad, and big business is bad, and it’s time we revolt. They will furiously type away their vague angry messages on facebook and forward email chains encouraging the equivalent of a financial kick in the shin to the big bad wolfs. They will do their best to make everyone in Google+ “aware” of their leaderless causes, and stumble, digg, or reddit themselves glorifying the latest activism stories where protesters storm a bank or bust the windows out of a big corporate business to increase their reach.
But then what?

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
The tale of this treason was shared for a reason,
To remind us that Guy got caught.

It turns out the rhyme most in America use as an inspirational call-to-arms to take up against governmental tyranny was concocted by the very government the subject of the rhyme fought against. After Guy Fawkes was caught in the Parliament basement with barrels of gunpowder, his plot and body was hung, drawn and quartered. His co-conspirators suffered the same. In following years, the King himself would offer up a commemorative sermon of sorts, beginning with those famous words, “remember, remember” as a warning to all who would wish to rise against the government and a reminder of Fawkes’ fate. So again I say, the purpose of that rhyme was to remind us all that Guy got caught.
My point? Don’t be that asshat who uses the quote without knowing its’ true history or intent. A single man can’t rise against our government through violent force without committing himself to becoming a martyr for the cause, because they will get caught and be made a horrific example of. You can’t bypass the law to get your way… you need to learn how to snake your way around within the law, under the cover of the very protocols that were put in place to give you the ability to take action.
I think America is catching on to this, but it’s difficult to tell from our rural one-mile town. How do we assemble? How do we change a government that has shaped and molded itself into a collective that can only be changed if they want to? How do we get Congress to vote themselves out of privilege in order to regain a true democracy?
I don’t have all the answers, but I know what I can do. It’s not enough to type a few words and click the mouse a few times. I can take action, and for the most part, I already do much of what anyone can do on a local level.

• I bank at a local institution which is owned and operated within my home state, and not a subsidiary of the big bailout boys.
• I shop at locally owned grocers, craftsmen, and other businesses.
• When I cannot buy what I need locally, I at least buy American made.
• I hire locally and try my best to train each member of my staff for their future… not keep them locked in the duties they were hired at.
• I talk to my kids about money and responsibility, and even the way the government works and how things are right now.
• I teach them humility and charity.
• I practice humility and charity.
• I invest in other individuals to help them find success.
• I help other entrepreneurs in any way that I can with my skills and experience.
• I vote.

I am ready to do more… just point me the way. I think that’s what the rest of America is trying to say now… I am ready.